Benitez shows true colours as Reds prevail

JUST one look at Rafael Benitez’s face as a crestfallen Steven Gerrard marched past him towards a very early bath underlined how driven the Spaniard is now as Liverpool’s season reaches a critical point.

Benitez's plans had been compromised by foolhardy behaviour two yellow cards inside 60 seconds at Anfield which could have derailed Liverpool in Saturday's fiercely competitive derby.

Victory in the 203rd meeting between the Merseyside rivals means the Reds need three more victories to virtually ensure Champions League qualification.

Benitez, meanwhile, is still refusing to back away from his very public row with Tottenham over the futures of Djibril Cisse and Jermain Defoe.

The Reds boss arrived at his post-match media conference with a few points jotted down on a scrap of paper clearly as enraged by Spurs chairman Daniel Levy's protestations as he was by Gerrard's wayward behaviour.

Whether or not Benitez allows the spat with Spurs to die down, he certainly will not be silenced or deflected from Liverpool's quest for Champions League qualification or an FA Cup final slot.

A couple of weeks back his seemingly exhausted Liverpool looked down and out after defeats against Benfica and Arsenal yet since then, they have won four on the trot and scored 18 goals in the process.

Benitez's obsession was matched by his team when Everton arrived at Anfield with their own European aspirations and just one league defeat since Christmas.

They left Anfield beaten again, having failed to show big-match temperament also missing earlier this season when two chances of European competition were lost.

The Toffees' abject cave-in clearly upset manager David Moyes, whose team had Andy van der Meyde sent off late on after Liverpool had defied the odds of playing with 10 men for so long following Gerrard's dismissal.

The hosts gratefully accepted a Phil Neville own goal before outstanding strikes from Luis Garcia and Harry Kewell ended the contest even if Tim Cahill's header threatened, briefly, to get Everton back in the game.

Moyes said: "We didn't deserve anything because we didn't play well enough. It was a great opportunity missed against 10 men. We couldn't capitalise on it. After their sending-off we got excitable, instead of being calm and waiting for the opportunities. We suddenly found ourselves coming back from two down.

"We got worse when Liverpool were down to 10 men. We should have been calm enough to produce the form we have been showing of late. Playing against Peter Crouch is very hard at times."

The Reds were overjoyed. Luis Garcia, having hit a trademark big-match goal, said: "Everyone else has been scoring recently apart from me. I'm pleased with that one another goal from me in a big game."

Kewell got in on the act with a spectacular 25-yarder and he too was proud of Liverpool's performance.

"It was a massive achievement to win like that while playing with 10 men for so long," he said.

Benitez pointedly refused to acknowledge Gerrard as his captain trudged off past him.

"He must play with his head and not always his heart," he said afterwards. "He knows he made a mistake, but we must learn from this sort of situation for the future. After he was sent off, we tried to keep the ball, to use Peter Crouch and to support him quickly and to profit from our set-pieces. It worked perfectly.

"Now we need to keep going if we want to try to win second place, to continue winning and to make it hard also for teams below us to catch up.

"We will miss Gerrard now for one game. But we have a lot of good players and apart from a couple, they are all fit. So we believe we have enough players to compete in two competitions now right to the end."

Meanwhile Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has confirmed his club are not interested in signing Defoe.

"We are in dialogue with Spurs, and it is an episode we want to put behind us and move on," Parry said yesterday.

"I am sure we will do that. They are making the point they are not interested in our player, and we not interested in their player so I think we'll resolve that one."

Everton will be fined a mandatory £25,000 after eight of their players were shown cards at Anfield. Any team with six or more players cautioned or dismissed is automatically punished under the FA's disciplinary procedures.